Ironman USA Lake Placid (Page 6)

Nope- very small area to enter when it's not race day-- and no one ever messes with your stuff.  Lake temp is about 70 ?? and feels beautiful in a wetsuit.

Come on in, the water's fine!! 

I'll be arriving Thursday mid-day and going for a swim that afternoon or evening.

I'll also show up Friday morning at 8:30 to swim a loop of the course, and I'll be doing a short ride (<20) sometime Friday as well.

Looks like my plan is the only one that calls for complete rest on Friday. hmmm. 

May just watch you guys from the shore  but I'm definately swimming Saturday.

That was my plan until my wife informed me that we aren't leaving until the kids get home from camp at 4pm.  Arguing ddin't seem like a wise choice.

I will probably swim on Friday.  Saturday will be a complete rest day (as well as the rest of Friday).

Anyone up for driving the course with me on Friday??

I don't yet have my plan for that week, so I can't commit to anything yet. (I don't even have my plan for next week; I prefer to look short term.)

I'm traveling up on Wed and have a condo right near the swim start, so I'll be around. I'll let you know later next week if/when I can make group swims, bikes, runs .

I'll be going with the complete rest on Saturday plan as well.

I'd be happy to be part of a driving tour sometime Friday or Saturday too.

We will drive in Wednesday afternoon.  I am planning on swimming on thurs and friday morning. 

I am also planning on driving the course either thurs or friday, so if you want to team up for that Rick, count me in.

Ditto. 

My plan is to swim Thursday, Friday and Saturday to rid myself of my mental demons and feel calm and comfortable in the water.

Thursday I have 30' run and Saturday a quick 30' spin.

I probably will want to drive the course just to see where the aid stations will be and if they have done any last minute patch jobs like last year.

Really, no one should have any reason to do anything exercise-wise Friday or Saturday other than maybe a quick spin to make sure the bike works.

There will be nothing at that point that you will gain one way or another by doing anything those days.

The only reason I'll be swimming is to test the waters and sighting, that's it, otherwise I wouldn't even be doing that.  And I'll ride my bike up and down the block once or twice checking out the shifting.  Other than that, you just need to mentally prepare yourself for the coming day and organize your gear and sleep well.

It blew my mind seeing people ripping down the road on their bikes in full gear on the frickin' day before the race.  Not casual testing, but full on workout.  Same thing with runners.  And you knew who was racing because the bikes had their numbers on them.

As Peter Reid and Dave Scott both have said in interviews, there is no reason to do anything but rest the week of the race.  You've got nothing to gain and risk injuring/crashing unnecessarily.

I know that what you're saying makes sense, Rick. And, yes, there is no physiological benefit to training the week before. That said, my worst workouts come the day after a full rest day. Also, my best races have come when I "trained" the day before. This has always been nothing more than a 15-min run and 20-min bike. I have no idea what I'll be doing on Fri and Sat; but there's no way I'll go into race day having just sat on my butt for the several days prior. Most likely, I'll be swimming. I know it's all mental. I haven't "done nothing" for more than one consecutive day in a few years. I have no idea how my body will respond to doing nothing for a few days and then suddenly having to race for 15 hrs. Yikes!

That said, I'll just do what coach tells me.

Well I've been following a plan for 34 weeks. I think I'll stick with it.

Mostly I agree. The last swim, 20 -30 mins, is more about feeling comfortable than actual work. 

When one is a swimmer that has pretty much just been doing kick sets due to a bike crash injury suffered 5 weeks out and one will not be able to swim for real until probably late next week, one will be swimming race week, albeit slowly and carefully, focusing on form and trying to feel right in the water again.  While I will have to be careful and listen to my shoulder, my swim training ends when I get out of the water on Saturday (my fastest swim times come when I've been swimming a lot, so I have no idea what to expect on raceday, only that I want to start fast so my shoulder doesn't get hit too much during the hand-to-hand combat.

Can you tell this not swimming thing is driving me nuts (yet I'm probably the person that "needed" to swim the least of all you guys)?